ERIC Number: EJ1026108
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 27
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1345-8353
EISSN: N/A
The Effect of Language Immersion on Second Language Intonation
Kang, Seokhan
Journal of Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics, v17 n1 p1-27 2013
This study investigated the effect of language immersion in an English-speaking environment on the production of intonational features in L2 English sentences. It was hypothesized that the Korean group who had been immersed in the English language as children would have intonation patterns more similar to native English speakers than a nonimmersed group of Korean speakers, who shared otherwise similar experience and proficiency with English. Sixty subjects in three groups--20 Korean adults in the immersed group, 20 Korean adults in the nonimmersed group, and 20 native English speakers (as a control group)--took part in the experiment. The immersed group was more native-like by having a steeper F0 declination tilt (a wider F0 range and a fast speech rate). However, the immersed group, like non-immersed group, exhibited difficulty in resetting F0 between adjacent phrases at boundary. These results suggest that the acquisition of second language (L2) intonation is affected by early immersion in an L2 environment, but the degree of intonational acquisition was shown to vary by subareas, in which some F0-related cues proved to be hard to acquire.
Descriptors: Second Language Learning, Intonation, Korean, Native Speakers, English (Second Language), Sentences, Control Groups, Adults, Cues, Foreign Countries, College Students, English, Measurement Techniques, Phonology, Audio Equipment, Asians, Immersion Programs
Pan-Pacific Association of Applied Linguistics. Department of English, Namseoul University, 21 Maeju-ri, Seonghwan-eup, Cheonan-city, Choongnam, Korea 330-707. Tel: +82-2-3290-1995; e-mail: paalkorea@yahoo.co.kr; Web site: http://paal.kr/journals/journals.html
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Oregon; South Korea
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A